How do people in Czechia pay online?
Czechs shop online more than most Europeans. Eurostat puts the share of people who bought something online in the previous 12 months at 83.67% in 2025, against an EU average of 73.56%. The e-commerce association APEK and the price comparison site Heureka put the turnover of Czech e-shops at about CZK 206 billion in 2025, up 6%, the second year above CZK 200 billion.
Cards lead, and phone wallets are catching up. In an APEK survey of 1,065 people in February 2025, fewer than half had typed a card number at checkout in the previous month, for the first time since the survey began, down from 56% a year earlier. Google Pay use rose from 15% to 18% and Apple Pay from 9% to 16% over the same year. In APEK’s 2023 study, 43% of buyers most often paid by card and 15% by bank transfer, and 7% paid cash on delivery, down from 14% four years earlier.
Bank payments are fast. The Czech National Bank runs the CERTIS interbank system, and 40.8 million instant payments were made in April 2026, almost 50% more than a year earlier. In a survey published by the central bank in May 2026, 53% of Czechs said they actively use instant payments, and about 31% use QR code payments in shops or online, where the shopper scans a code with their banking app and approves the transfer.
What rules shape online payments in Czechia?
VAT is 21%, with a reduced rate of 12% since 1 January 2024 and no VAT on printed or electronic books. A seller established in another EU country whose cross-border sales to consumers across the EU pass EUR 10,000 a year charges Czech VAT on sales to Czech customers, and can declare it through the One Stop Shop instead of registering in Czechia.
Shoppers have 14 days to withdraw. As across the EU, a consumer who buys online can cancel within 14 days of delivery without giving a reason. EU Directive 2023/2673 adds a withdrawal button from 19 June 2026: a clearly labelled online withdrawal function, a confirmation step and an acknowledgement on a durable medium.
Payments follow EU rules. Online card payments over EUR 30 generally need strong customer authentication with two separate factors, and traders cannot charge a fee for paying with a consumer debit or credit card issued in the EU. Under the EU Instant Payments Regulation, banks outside the euro area must be able to receive instant euro transfers by 9 January 2027 and send them, with verification of the payee, by 9 July 2027.
How would Omno route payments in Czechia?
A merchant would connect once and set routing rules per method, currency, amount and customer group. In Czechia:
- Card pay-ins would be routed by rules on card type, issuing country and amount, and if a provider is unavailable or rejects the request, the payment would move to the next provider in the rule until one accepts.
- Apple Pay and Google Pay would sit on the hosted checkout next to the card form, following the same card routing rules.
- Bank payments would go to a provider that offers Czech bank transfers or QR payments, with the order pending until the provider confirms the funds.
Webhooks would report the final status of every payment, the record a back office should trust before shipping an order, and the routing-decision log would show which provider handled each payment and why. Cash on delivery stays with the merchant’s courier and is outside payment routing.
What should merchants plan for?
Plan for cards and phone wallets together. Fewer shoppers type card numbers each year, and Apple Pay and Google Pay are taking that share.
Plan for bank payments in CZK. More than half of Czechs use instant payments, and about three in ten pay by QR code from their banking app.
Plan for the withdrawal button and VAT. Every checkout that sells under the 14-day withdrawal right needs a visible online withdrawal function, and EU sellers should check whether their sales pass the EUR 10,000 threshold.